Chapter 1: A Friend in Need

The door swings open easily. A goblin is passed out on a chair and leaning against an arrow slit, cradling a bow like a stuffed animal. Its quiver and all its arrows are propped up against the wall. She doesn't even notice Alastriona come in.

Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Alastriona walks up to the goblin and silently stares down at the small creature. She then puts a hand on its shoulder, her other hand holding a finger to her lips to signal silence.

"We'll be back in the sunlight before you know it!" Prince reassures Floon. "My friends are just satisfying their curiosity... I mean, making sure we're not pursued by your captors. That's it."

Floon seems reassured for now.

Meanwhile, Alastriona rouses her new-found goblin. Her eyes go wide in fear of the terrifying but beautiful celestial being before her. Alastriona sees the goblin's eyes dart to the quiver of arrows propped against the wall, but the goblin seems to think better of it, at least for now. Instead, she nods nervously, agreeing to be silent.

Alastriona might also notice that the west arrow slit looks out onto the original hub at the entrance to this hideout, while the south slit looks out into a small hall that contains a secret door leading to the hub.

Alastriona tips her head to the main room, a silent gesture for the goblin to join the others sans weapons.

The goblin drops her bow and obeys Alastriona, knees knocking with fear.

Bored with filing his nails while babysitting Floon, Prince studies the barricaded door. "I wonder what's back here?" he says to no one in particular.

You remove the barricading furniture and open the door. Inside you find a deep, circular latrine pit but none of the expected odours that one would expect to find in such a place. As you consider this, a long, oily, translucent tendril climbs out of the pit and lashes out at you, missing and slamming into the door instead. Where the tendril struck, the door is left pock-marked and steaming, as if splattered by acid. You dread to think what might happen to your armour if it should strike you.

Xelia looks at the state of the door and decides now is not the time for heroics. She takes out her dagger and is about to throw it towards the ooze when she reconsiders, calling out to the others. "Perhaps we should close the door and leave this be?"

Not needing to be told twice, Prince slams the door shut and replaces the barricading furniture.

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't the welcoming committee."

Prince slams the door and pushes the bunk bed back in place as a barricade. You hear it bash against the door a few more times and then go quiet.

Alastriona brings the sentry back to the others, then looks around for the other goblins.

Stitches is roused from his study of the spellbook by the commotion, but by the time he tears his eyes away from the pages, it's over. The feathers on his neck bristle with annoyance, and he goes back to muttering incantations with an orcish accent.

You pass through Q5, dropping off the goblin where you see Prince re-establishing the barricade, Stitches reading Grum'shar's recovered spellbook and Xelia supervising. Leaving the sentry in their care, you find the other goblins right where the party left them, still tied in the rope but not for lack of trying. One of them (it's hard to tell them apart at this point) has managed to get a loop of rope between her teeth and is gnawing away. She grins sheepishly.

The aasimar catches Prince's eye and points to the bottom of the door, and the gap between it and the threshold.

She retrieves the other goblins and escorts them back to Q5, where she sets them all together. Alastriona stares at them, her eyes judgmental and harsh, as though assessing their transgressions. Finally, she draws her small sickle and twirls it in her hand as she approaches the goblin with the mouthful of rope. Alastriona brings the sharp blade up to the goblin's nose. She gently pulls the rope from the goblin's jaw.

And she cuts the rope in twain.

Alastriona stows her sickle as the rope falls, drawing her falx this time. She uses the blunt edge to press down on the goblin's shoulder and taps her thigh above her knee, indicating that the prisoners ought to kneel.

The goblins let out a huge sigh of relief when Alastriona chooses not to use the sickle or the Falx for their intended purposes. They drop to one knee in unison, wide-eyed and filled with awe.

Alastriona nods with satisfaction. She turns to Xelia and Prince, using her free hand to indicate the goblins as an offering for the pair to do with as they please.

As the room fills up with prisoners, Stitches finds it harder to concentrate. Eventually, with a soundless sigh, he packs up the spellbook and slips it into his bag for safekeeping. With the ooze at bay and the goblins well in hand, he gets to his feet and heads south to explore the rest of the complex.

He grabs the key ring in the sideroom, jangling it for a moment in his hand and enjoying the din before slipping it into his pocket. Through the double doors, he spies the pillar and gives a start at the chest. Crouching low, he approaches slowly, circling to examine them both carefully for traps, magical influences, or other oddities.

Stitches notices that the hinges on the side handles are bulkier than necessary, and a closer investigation reveals a hidden sliding mechanism. You've seen something like this before as a way to disarm an internal trap. Carefully pulling on the handles, you are rewarded with two satisfying clicks.

In terms of magical influences, you find nothing. You remember that one of the pieces of gear Remalia lent the party was a Wand of Detect Magic with 3 charges, currently in Vatra's possession.